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Guide to Wall Defences

Guide to Wall Defences

This is a very basic guide for new players about wall defences. There is no new information for the more experienced players but it might be of some help to the beginner.
I am not going to try to suggest actual numbers, rather give a broader description of each type and some of the pros and cons.

Traps

The most basic defence, it is a single use device that works only against infantry units,
being workers, warriors, pike-men, swordsmen, archers, cavalry and cataphracts. They have no affect against siege equipment.
Traps can sometimes be disarmed, so not all traps will result in a kill.
They are cheap to build and replace but offer very little, other than the fact that they extend the range of battle to 5000.

Abatis

These are supposed to slow down the movement of attacking units but this has yet to be proven.
They will kill cavalry and cataphracts and this will make it worth having some around.
Abatis can only be destroyed by cavalry and cataphracts. The main reason to have a large number of abatis
is to make an enemy think twice about sending waves of cavalry to drop the loyalty of your city, as they will
take losses until the abatis are cleared. This may be enough to save your city, or give your alliance time to reinforce you.

Archer Tower

These are the most popular wall defence, mainly because they will fire every round until they are destroyed.
As a ranged unit, they also receive a range bonus of 4.5% for every level of wall. Base range is 1300 so range on a level 10 wall is 1885.

Rolling Log

These are very expensive to build and are a single use defence.
They will do a fair amount of damage but that must be balanced against the build cost.
Because they require mostly timber to build, players tend to prefer archer towers.

Defensive Trebuchet

Another single use defence that also has a misleading description. Although the description states that they will
fire upon enemy siege equipment, it is well known that they can be triggered by any unit, including warriors.
They are a ranged unit with a base range of 5000. Most players will not build many of these, preferring
to use the spaces to build extra archer towers. Recent tests have shown that they do not receive the range bonus
from walls, even though they are a ranged unit, so this counts against them as well.

Demolishing Wall Defences

If you decide that the current mix of wall defences could be improved, but you have no spaces available, there is a way
to demolish some of the defences that you have in place, to make room for new ones. If you look at the pictures of the
different types of wall defences you can see a red circle with a line through it. If you click on that, you will have the option
to demolish some or all those type of defence. The defences will demolish instantly and you will receive a small percentage
of the resources back. This allows the new player to make adjustments as needed to find the best mix.

Researches

Engineering

Every single upgrade enhances endurance of walls and defensive units by 10%

Machinery

Every single upgrade enhances repairable rate of defensive units by 100%
(This sounds better than it actually is. The base repairable rate is very low so every upgrade is actually only a couple of percent more.
This is also a variable number so if level 10 repairable rate is 30%, you might get anywhere between 3% to 30% repaired.)

Wall Level

I am going to include this here as it is similar to research in that every single upgrade to wall level will add 4.5% to ranged units.
This also includes ranged units in your army such as archers and catapults and compounds with archery research upgrades.

Compact Defence

I have decided to edit this in to this guide as it offers an alternative to relying on massed archers behind the normal defences. A compact defence has no traps and no abatis. Usually it will have all archer towers as wall defences but the thing that makes it work is the layering of troops within the city, being massive amounts of swordsmen, large numbers of warriors and pikes and a smaller number of archers than normal. By removing the range, attackers come close enough to be attacked by archer towers and archers in the first round but they tend to target the mellee troops (swordsmen, warriors, pikemen) first. This lets the ranged units destroy large numbers whithout taking damage.

If you wish to learn more about compact defence, read this thread:

http://bbs.evony.com/showthread.php?t=84025

Summary

Archer towers will always be a favourite defence, simply because they are the only multiple shot defence.
Traps and abatis help to extend the range of battle, so there should always be some of each and I believe it's better
to have a decent number so that some will be repaired in time for a second round of battle.
Rolling logs can do a fair amount of damage but because they are very expensive to build and are only single use, it
is questionable if they are worth building at all.
Defensive Trebuchet might serve some purpose and because they require mostly stone to build are not such a burden at later stages.

The best defence has always been a combination of wall defences, high level walls and a large army with open gates.
To open your gates to fight, click on the rally point and then click on the check box.
There may be a small amount of debate over numbers but it's generally agreed that archer towers give the best return
for build cost.
I should also mention here that having a good alliance that is prepared to send reinforcements when needed
is also a very important part of a good over-all defence. If you are in an alliance it pays to have your embassy open to allow
troops of an allied member to garrison your city. You can do this by clicking on your embassy and clicking on the check box.
Also, I personally like to have a certain number of catapults in each city, specifically for defence, just to add another layer.

Personally, i think AT's are the most useful things. I like maxing my walls out with them with only 2 traps and 1 of everything else.

This is because 100 traps won't really do much. Abatis only kill Calvary / Cataphracts. Rolling logs are extremely expensive and die easily. And Defensive Trebuchet's you have to build after 1 shot of it being fired. AT's can kill everything and can only be killed and do not just run out like DT's.

That may of changed your personal opinion it also may of helped some newer players to think about there defense and not max it out with traps.